IRS vs. Elvis Mitchell

Folks in the arts aren't always good with money. (I'm not.) But Annie Leibovitz and Elvis Mitchell belong to another class altogether: people who hobnob as a matter of course with culture mavens, beautiful people, artists, filmmakers, actors and patrons of the arts who are much much richer than they are. Since Mitchell left his job as film critic at the NYT in 2004, he has taught at Harvard, hosts a weekly interview show The Treatment on KCRW FM as well as Turner Classic Movies' "Under the Influence," and produced the Timothy Greenfield-Sanders HBO documentary, The Black List. He's a fixture on the film fest and lecture circuit. And he still gets the occasional writing assignment.

Folks in the arts aren't always good with money. (I'm not.) But Annie Leibovitz and Elvis Mitchell belong to another class altogether: people who hobnob as a matter of course with culture mavens, beautiful people, artists, filmmakers, actors and patrons of the arts who are much much richer than they are. Since Mitchell left his job as film critic at the NYT in 2004, he has taught at Harvard, hosts a weekly interview show The Treatment on KCRW FM as well as Turner Classic Movies' "Under the Influence," and produced the Timothy Greenfield-Sanders HBO documentary, The Black List. He's a fixture on the film fest and lecture circuit. And he still gets the occasional writing assignment.

But let's face it. Mitchell likes to live large. (New York Magazine has described him as "flamboyant.") On one recent visit to L.A., Mitchell shacked up at the Four Seasons. He has been known to jet off to play in far-off locations with the likes of Quentin Tarantino.

In 2008, Mitchell was caught crossing the Canada/U.S. border with $12,000 in undeclared cash. Now the New York Post reports that the IRS is chasing Mitchell for some $500,000. Now that's a lot of money.